Doctor Explains Exactly How to Use Marijuana for Anxiety

You’ve likely heard both sides of how marijuana use can affect anxiety. It can have a calming effect for some people, but it can also induce anxiety, and even panic attacks, in others.

Dr. Jordan Tishler, president of InhaleMD and the Association of Cannabis Specialists, has an insight to experience the full effects of marijuana without experiencing any psychoactive side effects, Popsugar reports. He said, “If you use a THC-forward medicine at bedtime, even though the intoxication wears off overnight, the antianxiety and antidepressant benefits last throughout the next day.”

CBD, the non-psychoactive substance in marijuana, can help relieve anxiety without the “high” that is associated with THC, the phsycoactive substance in marijuana. But science shows that using THC in conjunction with CBD is more effective because of a synergy known as the entourage effect.

“There’s very rarely a reason to dose people during the daytime,” said Dr. Tishler. “For my anxiety patients, I have tremendous success giving them a low-dose — 10 to 15 milligrams of vaporized flower around bedtime — and that’s all they need.”

Dr. Tishler further explains: “For the average patient, I think in terms of THC with the idea of the entourage effect: if you’re using a whole plant, you use the plant or an extract; [this way] you get CBD and other supportive chemicals.”